Reliance Retail plans department stores to take on Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle

Reliance Retail is planning to take on Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle International with a new premium department store chain, which is expected to make its debut most probably early next year, people aware of the development said.

According to mall executives, Reliance Retail has indicated that it is looking for space in the range of 25,000-35,000 square feet for the chain.

The people said this so-called bridge-to-luxury format will stock global labels sold by Reliance Brands and Reliance Retail, the company’s private labels and brands outside of the Reliance’s stable.


ET spoke to a senior Reliance Retail executive, retail industry insiders, three top mall executives as well as real estate agents who are aware of Reliance’s plan on the department store chain.

Reliance Retail did not respond to an email seeking comment till press time Wednesday.

Reliance Brands, the Reliance Retail unit that sells upmarket brands, markets Hamleys toys, Mothercare, Muji and Womo cosmetics among other labels. Reliance Brands also sells uber luxury brands such as Armani, Burberry, Diesel, Salvatore Ferragamo and Jimmy Choo, as well as other swish global and Indian labels through its multi-brand concept format called White Crow. So far, Reliance has opened four White Crow outlets, in Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Surat.

The new department store format will be a notch below White Crow but above the Reliance Trends mass market department chain, the people said.

Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle operate more than 80 outlets each in dozens of cities. Iconic, a smaller player in the premium department store space, has about two dozen stores in cities including the National Capital Region, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur and Udaipur.

Harminder Sahni, cofounder of retail consultancy Wazir Advisors, said there is room for growth in India’s evolving retail market.

“Reliance Trends is positioned more for the masses,” Sahni said. “The Indian market is getting segmented very sharply. That segmentation is happening in multi-brand apparel and lifestyle brands and it is necessary. You cannot have a shirt selling for ₹500 and one for ₹5,000 sitting in one same department store.”

Reliance Retail, the country’s largest retailer by sales and the number of outlets, is aggressively expanding its network of stores from pharmacies to convenience stores and electronic chains, malls and real estate agents said.

It currently operates more than 12,000 outlets in over 7,000 cities and towns nationwide. More than 2,000 of these stores are in fashion, lifestyle and jewellery segments.